Coming off the worst season in franchise history, the San Jose Earthquakes have turned to Bruce Arena, the former U.S. National team manager and the MLS’s all-time winningest coach, to help revive the club’s fortunes.

Arena told ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle on Wednesday that he has been named the Quakes’ sporting director and manager. Arena, 73, will be calling all the shots, with San Jose general manager Chris Leitch reporting directly to Arena, a team source told Carlisle. Arena also said in the report that owner John Fisher, who has been widely panned for fielding teams with among the lowest payroll in both the MLS and Major League Baseball (the A’s), has committed to spending more on the Quakes.

This will be Arena’s first coaching job since he was placed on administrative leave by the New England Revolution and ultimately resigned during the summer of 2023 amid allegations of making “insensitive and inappropriate remarks.” He was deemed eligible to work in the MLS last winter after meeting with MLS commissioner Don Garber.

“I think it’s an interesting job. It’s certainly going to be challenging,” Arena told ESPN, noting that Fisher and his staff “were very impressive and they’re committed to making this club better. I think there’s potential there to develop the club into a team that can certainly be better than they’ve demonstrated over the last couple of years.”

The Quakes are expected to announce Arena’s hiring this morning.

San Jose was last in the MLS this season by a wide margin. The Quakes (6-25-3) finished with 21 points, the only club in the 29-team league that didn’t finish with at least 30 points.

The Quakes have not had a winning MLS regular season since 2013.

Luchi Gonzalez started the season as the Quakes’ coach but was fired in late June after the team got off to a 3-14-2 start. Ian Russell was promoted as the interim head coach for the rest of the season. San Jose collected half of its MLS victories over the final 13 matches of the season (3-9-1) but was 1-6-1 over the final eight games.

The hope is Arena, who has 262 MLS regular-season victories and has won five league championships, can turn around the Quakes the way he did in previous MLS stops with the L.A. Galaxy and the Revolution. He led the Galaxy to three MLS Cup titles from 2011-14 after winning two with D.C. United in the late 1990s. The Revolution won the MLS Supporters’ Shield title in 2021 for the best regular-season record two years after he arrived.

— Laurence Miedema

NBA

Hornets win on Miller’s buzzer beater >> Brandon Miller scored off an offensive rebound at the buzzer to lift Charlotte to a thrilling 108-107 home victory over Detroit.

Miles Bridges had 27 points and LaMelo Ball added 25 points on five 3-pointers for the Hornets, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Miller finished with 19 points.

Cade Cunningham had a triple-double for Detroit with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Pacers knock off Magic 118-111 >> Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 points, four teammates each had 17, and the Indiana Pacers defeated the Orlando Magic 118-111 at home.

College football

Oklahoma State’s Gundy apologizes >> Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy apologized on social media, a day after he lashed out at his team’s critics.

Gundy is in unfamiliar territory. He has 169 wins in 20 seasons at Oklahoma State, including 18 straight bowl appearances. His team was among the favorites to contend for the Big 12 title this season, but the Cowboys are alone in last place heading into Saturday’s game at TCU. The Cowboys (3-6, 0-6) have lost six in a row and must win out to avoid a losing regular season.

A frustrated Gundy let loose on naysayers during his weekly media session on Monday.

“In most cases, the people that are negative and voicing their opinion are the same ones that can’t pay their own bills,” Gundy said. “But they have an obligation to speak out and complain about others because it makes them feel better.

But then, in the end, when they go to bed at night, they’re the same failure that they were before they said anything negative about anybody else.”

Tennis

Zheng routs Paolini in WTA Finals >> Zheng Qinwen cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Jasmine Paolini to reach the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

Zheng needed just over an hour to defeat Paolini in the match that decided the final qualifier from the Purple Group at the season-ending tournament for the top eight women’s players.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who had won her first two matches to clinch a semifinal spot, lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to No. 5 Elena Rybakina.

Jessica Pegula withdrew from her last match at the tournament because of a left knee injury.